6 month old baby shot 5 times in Chicago as father changed her diaper

Just yesterday I was talking to a guy from Chicago and he was telling me how rough it is in the city. We here at The Urban Advocate have been reporting on the on-going violence in the Windy City. Though it's hard to really feel their pain because I'm not in the city, my heart sinks when I hear stories like this baby who has been shot. Hip Hop Wired reports:

A six-month-old baby succumbed to wounds sustained from being shot alongside her father in Chicago. Little Jonylah Watkins was struck while her father changed her diaper, and passed away overnight, according to a family spokesperson. 

Watkins was rushed to Comer Children's Hospital at Chicago University Monday, and listed under serious-to-critical condition. Her father remains in the hospital, and has been notified of her death.  She sustained wounds to the liver, lung, shoulder, leg, and intestine.

Police are said to be searching for the suspect in the Woodlawn neighborhood, located on the city's South Side.

In a sad and ironic twist, Watkins' mother was shot in the knee while she was pregnant with the baby. "This mother is really hurt. We need everyone in Chicago praying for this family right now," said Rev. Cory Books, who is speaking on behalf of the family, and lives blocks away from where the shooting occurred. "For a baby to get shot is despicable. Whenever anyone shoots a baby, that's a cowardly act."

Jonathon Watkins, 28, is the child's father. He was transported to Northwestern Memorial Hospital under serious-to-critical condition. He is said to be a member of the gang, Gangster Disciples.
Witnesses stated that a gunman approached Jonathon at around 1 p.m. Monday and opened fire. He was hit in the buttocks, on his side, and had a bullet graze his face. "There's too much shooting over there," said the baby's grandmother, Mary Young. "She's nothing but 6 months old. How could anybody -- what kind of heart?"

The baby's death is perhaps the saddest of many tragic shootings in Chicago that have taken the lives of so many children. At the end of 2012, the Windy City closed out the year with over 500 homicides, and had more than 40 shooting deaths for the month of January.